Texas to limit spending on tuition for state workers

Questions forced move to cut back on the benefit

AUSTIN - Texas officials have decided to sharply limit how many state workers can use taxpayer money to get graduate degrees, a move aimed at injecting transparency and accountability into an area of spending that drew questions earlier this year.

The biggest changes are taking place at the Texas Department of Transportation, which has informed employees it is reforming its Tuition Assistance Program to ensure it complies with state law and benefits taxpayers instead of favored or connected employees.

The department has spent far more than any other state agency on tuition - $13 million since 1993, including $956,000 in 425 payments in 2013, about 10 percent of which was for classes that were not related to job duties of the employees, according to records. All payments were made before classes began, with no requirements that participants pay anything up front.

Under the department's new rules, the program may accept only 10 workers each year; participants must pay part of their tuition up front; and classes must relate to current or prospective job duties.

"This approach ensures that we manage state resources prudently while supporting the professional development of our employees who can then apply that knowledge to their jobs at TxDOT," spokeswoman Veronica Beyer said in a statement.

The announcement of the changes came around the same time that Gov. Greg Abbott on June 9 signed a bill passed by the Texas Legislature to reform tuition payment programs.

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The measure, House Bill 3337, requires agency heads to personally sign off on tuition payments, makes agencies post their policies online and says they can "only pay the tuition expenses for a program course successfully completed by the administrator or employee at an accredited institution of higher education."

Sponsored by Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, the proposal was approved unanimously by both the House and Senate. It takes effect Sept. 1.

The bill was introduced after revelations in January that a state health commission official named Casey Haney had gotten a $97,000 lump sump from the agency to get a master's degree. Haney and a fellow high-ranking official, Patricia Vojack, who got a $37,000 tuition benefit, had worked as political aides to Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek and had gotten their jobs without applying.

It soon became clear that problems with tuition programs extended far beyond that case, however.

The Houston Chronicle reported in March that state agencies had spent some $30 million since 1993 on tuition - including at least $13 million by the transportation department – under vague rules that allowed for large payments to connected or near-retirement employees. Some agencies had policies that did not appear to comply with the law, employees often did not have to pay anything up front and many of the payments went to private or out-of-state colleges.

Beyer, the department spokeswoman, emphasized that its changes "go above and beyond the statutory requirements."

Clardy said that his proposal received strong support from fellow lawmakers and Abbott, who called ethics reform a priority for the session.

"It's a reasonable set of requirements to impose on our state agencies," the lawmaker said in an interview.

"We're not saying that you can't offer this as a benefit to a potential employee or a current employee," Clardy added. "We're just saying that if you're going to do it, it's got to be approved at the highest level, so someone is accountable, and it has to benefit the state of Texas."